Grabbing the right photos to produce more conversions on your website can be tricky.

But grabbing irrelevant photos, (or worse), photos that have copyright protection, can be costly.

Find out where to get high-quality, professional photography while boosting your conversions.

Can I Grab Images from Google Image Search?

You may have heard the horror stories — the ones where someone grabbed an image from Google Images to use on their website or blog and were then sued for copyright infringement and had to remove the image and pay a hefty fine. And that leaves you wondering.

How do I find quality images for my website that are safe to use?

Or, maybe you haven’t heard the stories and are about to learn some valuable information that could help you avoid a lawsuit and unnecessary risk — if that’s the case, I’m glad you’re here.

In fact, when the images are relevant, readers spend more time looking at the images than they do reading text on the page. This means that your content will capture more attention and your social media posts will drive more traffic back to your website if you incorporate relevant images.

But here’s the thing: you can’t just use any image you find online or download from someone else’s website, or grab an image from a search provider like Google.

Using images from unknown sources or accidentally using a copyrighted or trademarked image opens you up to risk for copyright infringement. Instead, source your website images from trusted reputable sites offering royalty-free photos or completely free stock images, stock illustrations, and even stock video and audio.

Find Website Photos Using Stock Photography

Stock photography sites give you access to thousands of images you’re safely and legally allowed to use. They also curate collections of high-quality, professional-looking photos that will allow you to up your game and improve the overall look and feel of your website or blog. The best part is that there are tons of stock photography sites to choose from and many provide the images for free or at a very low cost.

Remember, these websites vet their contributors, curate images for quality, require model licenses, and do the legal work required to make the images available for you to use. Some sites charge a small fee for photos, some let you download and use the images for free, and others ask for a citation or link to the photographer’s website.

Do yourself a favor and from now on, be sure to source your images from a reputable provider who has permission to distribute or sell the images so you know you’re in the clear and free from potential legal trouble.

About the Author

Todd Terwillegar is the Digital Content Marketing Manager at Liquid Web. Todd runs the day-to-day operations for the Liquid Web Blog and guides content strategy for the content experts writing on the Blog and Knowledge Base. When not at work, Todd loves watching the latest Marvel movie or wrestling on the floor with his kids. You can follow Todd on Twitter or LinkedIn.